Funded in Collaboration With
Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C)
Tumors consist not only of cancer cells, but also stromal and immune cells that constitute the tumor microenvironment (TME). Cancer cells can take on dramatically different properties based on the microenvironment. The clinical impact of the TME is only becoming appreciated in recent years. In many different cancer types, including breast cancer (BC), tumors with higher stromal fractions portend worse clinical outcomes. In contrast, tumors infiltrated by CD8 T cells have better clinical outcomes. Hence, tumors behave differently based on the collective behavior of the microenvironment. We will leverage biotechnology advances in sequencing single cells to better understand the important determinants of the coevolution between the adaptive immune response and the tumor. By tracking the spatial geometry of cells in tumor samples we hope to better understand the TME and ultimately determine which genetic factors can be best exploited for therapeutic intervention.
